A Cause-Agnostic Approach to Treating Retinal Degenerative Disease
Upregulating our innate immune-based neuroprotective pathways
The future of Retinal Degenerative Disease treatments
About
Piximune, Inc. is developing a set of first-in-class monoclonal antibodies to treat retinal degenerative diseases by up-regulating the innate neuroprotective pathways within the human retina. The technology being developed by Piximune is based on groundbreaking immunological findings by its Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Daniel Saban.
Development Pipeline
PIX-RP01 Program - Retinitis Pigmentosa
- No approved therapies for >98% of patients
- Significant unmet needs
- Expedited development path through Orphan Disease designation
PIX-GA02 Program: Geographic Atrophy
- Few approved therapies
- Continued significant unmet need
- More extensive development work required
- Longer timelines to enable AMD indication
Team
Daniel Saban, PhD Chief Science Officer, Co-Founder
Michael Hannan Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Michael Hannan Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Dr. Saban is CSO and co-founder of Piximune, and is the Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology at Duke University School of Medicine, Vice Chair of Research Strategy, and Scientific Director of the Foster Center for Ocular Immunology, with joint appointments in Integrative Immunobiology and Pathology. He completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, then served as Instructor at HMS, before joining Duke. He is a recipient of the 2024 ARVO Cogan Award. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Stephen J. Ryan Initiative for Macular Research, and has consulted for Roche, Genentech, Novartis, and Sanofi.
Michael Hannan Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Michael Hannan Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Michael Hannan Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Mr. Hannan is CEO and co-founder of Piximune. Mr. Hannan has over 25 years of experience turning R&D discoveries into commercial assets. He has held multiple commercial leadership positions across New Product Planning, Business Development, Marketing and Sales at large companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, J&J and Schering-Plough. On the entrepreneurial side, Mr Hannan was EVP, Commercial at Quotient Ltd. through its IPO in 2014; and has served as an interim Chief Commercial Officer and strategic advisor at multiple life science start-up companies including two ophthalmology companies.
Ryan Hallett, PhD Antibody Development Advisor
Michael Hannan Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Ramiro Maldonado, MD Inherited Retinal Disease Advisor
Dr. Hallet is a protein biochemist with 10+ years of experience in antibody engineering and biologics development.
He co-founded Dualogics, where he helped develop and commercialize the OrthoMab bispecific antibody platform and led high-throughput biologics screening efforts prior to the company’s acquisition by AbCellera Biologics. He has served as principal investigator on multiple translational research grants, including an NCI SBIR award, and has led antibody programs from discovery through preclinical development. He currently serves as CEO of Veil Therapeutics
Ramiro Maldonado, MD Inherited Retinal Disease Advisor
Ramiro Maldonado, MD Inherited Retinal Disease Advisor
Ramiro Maldonado, MD Inherited Retinal Disease Advisor
Dr. Maldonado specializes in pediatric retinal diseases, pediatric and adult ophthalmic genetics, and inherited retinal diseases. He completed a fellowship in pediatric retinal imaging at Duke Ophthalmology. He also completed ophthalmic genetics and electrophysiology and medical retina fellowships at the National Institutes of Health (NIH-NEI). Prior to joining Duke, he was the Director and Founder of the Ophthalmic Genetics and Electrophysiology Service at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Dr. Maldonado provides pediatric medical retina services in addition to pediatric and adult inherited retinal disease care.
Gary Novack, PhD Regulatory & Development Advisor
Ramiro Maldonado, MD Inherited Retinal Disease Advisor
Gary Novack, PhD Regulatory & Development Advisor
Dr. Gary D. Novack is President of PharmaLogic Development and a board-certified clinical pharmacologist with more than 40 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development. He has advised over 100 pharmaceutical and medical device companies on drug development strategy, clinical protocols, and global regulatory submissions.
An author of more than 400 publications and abstracts, Dr. Novack is an internationally recognized expert in clinical pharmacology and ophthalmic drug development. He serves as Professor and Vice Chair of Collaborative Research in the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine and has been active in numerous professional and nonprofit organizations, including the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
Gary Sternberg, MD Medical Strategy Advisor
Ramiro Maldonado, MD Inherited Retinal Disease Advisor
Gary Novack, PhD Regulatory & Development Advisor
Dr. Sternberg specializes in retinal disease, ophthalmic drug development, and translational therapeutics across inherited and acquired ocular conditions.
Dr. Sternberg has led and supported the development of therapies for Stargardt disease, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, glaucoma, and thyroid eye disease. He served as medical monitor and study lead for a post-approval commitment study of Lucentis in retinal vein occlusion and has designed and overseen clinical programs in retinal therapeutics.
Rose Verhoeven, MTox Preclinical Development Advisor
Rose Verhoeven, MTox Preclinical Development Advisor
Rose Verhoeven, MTox Preclinical Development Advisor
Rose Verhoeven, MTox, is a nonclinical drug development professional with more than 20 years of experience in small and mid-size pharmaceutical and biotech companies. She has held positions at Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Chimerix, Clearside Biomedical, Aerie Pharmaceuticals, and Envisia Therapeutics. Throughout her career, her main therapeutic area focus has been ophthalmology.
Partners
Publications
Microglia at sites of atrophy restrict the progression of retinal degeneration via galectin-3 and...
Jan. 30th, 2024, Yu et al: doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.19.549403
Microglia versus Monocytes: Distinct Roles in Degenerative Diseases of the Retina
Apr. 17th, 2020, Yu et al: doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2020.03.012
Microglial Function is Distinct in Different Anatomical Locations during Retinal Homeostasis...
March 5th, 2019, O'Koren et al: doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2019.02.007
New insights into mononuclear phagocyte biology from the visual system
March 27th, 2017, Reyes et al: doi.org/10.1038/nri.2017.13
Fate mapping reveals that microglia and recruited monocyte-derived macrophages are definitively...
Feb. 9th, 2016, O'Koren et al: doi.org/10.1038/srep20636
